CG SubMain Menu

Legendary pianist Misha Dichter to perform Feb. 2 at Coastal Concerts

January 23, 2013

The most eagerly awaited event in Coastal Concerts’ current season will occur Saturday afternoon, Feb. 2, when pianist Misha Dichter takes the stage in Lewes to perform a solo recital. Few pianists playing today command greater respect or have more name recognition than does this distinguished artist.

Dichter’s celebrated career was launched in 1966 when, at the age of 20 and still a student at Juilliard, he stunned the music world by winning the silver medal in Moscow at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. Over the decades since that early triumph, Dichter has recorded extensively and toured the globe presenting solo recitals and appearing with the world’s preeminent orchestras and chamber ensembles.

For his program in Lewes, Dichter will offer works by Beethoven, Schubert and Alexander Scriabin - pieces representing his lifelong interest in the pianistic traditions of the Austro-German Classical style and Russian Romantic School. The afternoon will begin with Beethoven’s “Six Bagatelles, Op. 26,” to be followed by one of the composer’s most impassioned musical statements, the "C-Minor Sonata, Op. 111."

In praising Dichter’s interpretation of this late sonata, The New York Times said, “The obsessive trills and elaborate filigree were superbly controlled, and the pianissimo sighs near the end of the work carried a wonderful yearning.”

Two technically challenging études by Scriabin - the "Op. 42, No. 4," and the "Op. 8, No. 11" - will open the second half of the program, which will conclude with Schubert’s poignantly beautiful "Sonata in B-flat, D. 960," written at the very end of his life. The New York Times called Dichter’s performance of this Schubert masterpiece “ravishing … gently inflected, keenly felt and executed with breathtaking polish from start to finish.”

The world knows Dichter as a renowned pianist, but until recently few were aware that he is also a sharp-eyed sketch artist, habitually setting down his wry and often satirical depictions of life as a professional musician. Now many of these witty black-and-white illustrations have been published as an e-book, titled “A Pianist’s World in Drawings,” available for downloading from major online booksellers.

The recital will take place at 2 p.m. in Bethel United Methodist Church Hall (handicapped accessible), Fourth and Market streets, Lewes. Individual tickets are $35. Those ages 10-18, along with one adult per youth, will be admitted free.

For ticket availability, call 888-212-6458 or check with the Lewes Chamber of Commerce or Lewes Gourmet /Puzzles on Front Street (no credit cards). For concert information, go to www.coastalconcerts.org.

Coastal Concerts is a nonprofit organization promoting classical music appreciation in the central Delmarva region. Programs are made possible, in part, by grants from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation.